@ARTICLE{,
author = {Schneider, Christian and Schowalter, Steven J. and Chen, Kuang and Sullivan, Scott T. and Hudson, Eric R.},
title = {Laser-Cooling-Assisted Mass Spectrometry},
journal = {Phys. Rev. Appl.},
year = {2014},
volume = {2},
pages = {034013},
month = {sep},
url = {http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.2.034013},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.2.034013},
abstract = {Mass spectrometry is used in a wide range of scientific disciplines including proteomics, pharmaceutics, forensics, and fundamental physics and chemistry. Given this ubiquity, there is a worldwide effort to improve the efficiency and resolution of mass spectrometers. However, the performance of all techniques is ultimately limited by the initial phase-space distribution of the molecules being analyzed. Here, we dramatically reduce the width of this initial phase-space distribution by sympathetically cooling the input molecules with laser-cooled, cotrapped atomic ions, improving both the mass resolution and detection efficiency of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer by over an order of magnitude. Detailed molecular-dynamics simulations verify the technique and aid with evaluating its effectiveness. This technique appears to be applicable to other types of mass spectrometers.}
}